http://sweetnsexydivas.blogspot.com/2015/01/serial-resolutions.html
I'm over at Sweet'N'Sexy Divas today talking about my resolutions for 2015, or at least one of them, to write and flesh out more series. And I'm highlighting the success I've already had with that goal this year, with my release Second Chance at a Cheerleader, available today. Yay!
http://sweetnsexydivas.blogspot.com/2015/01/serial-resolutions.html
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Well December has come and gone and with it the December Close Out plan has ended as well. Or you could say closed.
As anticipated once I left home for the holidays and started to spend time with my family I got very little work done. As I said in my blogs about Thanksgiving, now that I have to actually stay with my family the whole time we are together (appose to being able to drive back to my own home) it’s become increasingly harder to get work done during vacations. But I’m not going to let that be an excuse. I still wrote some and tried to focus on my goals when possible. I was able to finish the first draft of Owned Forever. It’s a little rough, like all first drafts, but it clocked in at just under 38,000 words. I’m hoping to flesh it out a bit more with edits, maybe add another scene but it definitely will give all those readers who loved Grant, Daniel and Kate a good meaty bite of what’s happened to them since Christmas. I had hoped to get done, or at least start, revisions on my upcoming free read, Hot-N-Ready, but that didn’t happen. It’s a short story, just 3,000 words so I plan to bang it out early this month and then turn back to Owned Forever revisions. I’m planning to get Owned Forever into my editor by the end of the month. It will be tight, but I think I can do it. Cross your fingers for me. As you all know, this December Close Out Plan being a great example of it. I like goals. So you can imagine I love New Year’s resolutions. But unlike most, I don’t take them lightly and I don’t rush into making them. I don’t give up my resolutions by January 5th like most, because I usually don’t make them until much later in the month and I take them very seriously. Though I haven’t completely decided on what my resolutions will be for this year I know a few things will be included, getting healthier and losing weight (like most of the world, or at least the US, I gained way to much over the holidays that I want to lose), writing more and publishing more. But I’ll write another blog once I have all the details worked out. Hope you all had a fantastic holiday and have a wonderful 2015! Wow I can’t believe it’s already less than a week till Christmas. It seems like just last week it was September. Where is the time going?
Time is moving so fast I almost forgot to post about my December Close Out Plan. Every year I do a December Close Out Plan. It was originally started with an inspiration from a previous job where they did a December Close Out to get rid of older product and start the year off with a nice clean slate. I think this idea is fantastic. Not only to start of the year with a clean slate (which we could all use every once and a while), but I love having the final deadline of getting some stories out by the end of the year (see my previous blogs about deadlines to see why I love that idea ;D). In previous years it had a week or more off from the evil day job that made this time of year perfect to dedicate to my writing. Unfortunately this year I don’t think it will be as easy. Due to my move this year, I’m traveling and staying with family for the holiday week, and given how my thanksgiving experience went, I don’t think I’ll get a lot of work done this Christmas season. That doesn’t mean I’m completely abandoning the December close out plan, but this year won’t be the huge push I’ve had in previous years. Also having three works released between December and January, which means I’ve been more involved with edits and promotional activities than starting new stories and discovering new characters. But I do want to use my time off this year wisely and even with a few new works available I still have a few deadlines I’m working towards. My goals this December Close Out Plan are to finish the first draft on Owned Forever (the sequel to Owned for Christmas). I want to get this story to my editor by the end of January to release sometime this summer. My second goal is to edit and submit Hot-N-Ready, a fun little free read I wrote for my publisher Romance Divine. These goals seem reasonable and attainable and in line with the deadlines I have. If I can get this done by the end of the December I’ll be doing really well. And if I can do more, even better. How about you guys out there? Do you have any end of year goals? Any projects you have to get done before the ball drops? Leave a comment below and we can cheer each other on to the finish. I'm over at Sweet'n'Sexy Divas talking about the difficulties of writing around family, as I tried to do this Thanksgiving, and the few tips I have for balancing these two commitments.
Stop by and leave me any tips you have for how to focus when family is in town. I can always use some more hold focusing around family. http://sweetnsexydivas.blogspot.com/2014/12/writing-around-family.html That's right, today before lunch, I wrote the last 500 words to win Nanowrimo. The last three weeks have been a whirlwind. I've written two short stories and over 20k on two different stories. This is the fastest I have ever written, and I'm going to try and push for more. I'd loved to come out of this with one completed work. Or if I really stretch, two. I've never walked away from Nano with a complete story. I've gotten a few close, but never complete. I never had enough time to complete something within the month. I have a few commitments for the release of Owned for Christmas which I need to work on (because I've been ignoring them for the last three weeks to reach this goal), but I'm going to keep reaching, keeping trying to complete both of these. Owned Forever: 19,698 Hot-N-Ready: 3,329 Good Girls Always Finish First: 21,084 Once Upon a Prom Night: 6,004 Total: 50,115 Today I had my best writing day of the whole Nanowrimo experience. My plan was to get to 40,000 words by the end of the weekend. I got in some good writing on Saturday. For whatever reason the words were flowing, and I managed 3290 words that day. Bringing my total to 38,364. So I knew this goal was not only in sight but easily within my grasp.
On Sunday though, the words were not flowing as easily, but I managed to get in the 1,636 I needed to hit my goal before heading out to Panera for a dinner and writing session. That's when the magic started. I got another 2,000 words at Panera before I was done with my meal. And then what did I do, I went home and wrote some more. Bringing my total word count for the day to 5149. Amazing! I never write that much, but going somewhere like Panera or Starbucks is one of my tricks of the trade to beef up my word count. Several of my author buddies that write full time talk about getting these kinds of numbers, but I never thought it was possible for me to do. I just don't do it. Ever. But now I'm rethinking that whole idea. Maybe I can't do it every day, but I can definitely hit that kind of number. Maybe there's even more I can do. Maybe I can write full time, maybe I can be prolific like some of my friends. Only time will tell, but right now, all possibilities seem available for me. Total word count: 43,513 Its official, the contract is signed and everything. Second Chance at a Cheerleader will be releasing soon from Siren Publishing. Right now they have it set to release on January 8th, but the date might change according to editing and availability. I'll let you guys know if that happens.
This is the second story in my Snowedin Fantasies series, and shows a lot more of Snowedin, VT. The town is based on where I grew up in Vermont and its so fun to me to be able to go back home, in writing at least, and explore the world from an adult perspective. I'm so excited to see this book finding a home. I've been working on it on and off for some time, so its great to finally see it completed and moving towards all the fantastic readers out there. Its also been a while since I've had a Siren release, since I've been working a lot with Totally Bound over the last year, and its great to come back to the family. Here's a little taste of what it's about: Dan Tyson and Matt Goodman are the ultimate nerds, not to mention millionaires, after their video game hit it big. They always loving one woman, Lanie Brookes, queen of the school. But back in high school they couldn't interest any woman. Definitely not someone as amazing as Lanie. As their high school reunion approaches they decide to blow off some steam, by sharing a date from Fantasies Fulfilled. In high school, Lanie Brookes had the life everyone dreamed of. She was head cheerleader, dating the captain of the hockey team. But since staying in Snowedin to take care of her mother, her life has gone downhill. When she receives a mysterious subscription to Fantasies Fulfilled, she decides to make the most of it, picking two men for the price of one. But she never guessed she’d selected the two men she's dreamed of since graduation night, Matt and Dan. But will they still be interested in her now? Or will the fantasy go up in smoke when they realize who she's become? Last night I crossed over the half way point. That's right, I have written 25,000 words in a little over a week. Its pretty amazing. I don't think I could do it all the time, its really taking the energy out of me but it does make me think what could I do if I just put more effort into it. If I just focus a little more.
In the next year I'm going to be trying to focus more on my writing, and I want to try and remember how much I got done this week. How much I really can do when I want to. Total: 25459 Nanowrimo week 1 is complete and I've done a great job of keeping my word count up. My lowest count day is 1746, which is still above the Nanowrimo daily requirement. Every other day was hit or exceeded my personal goal of 2147. All and all this year has been great. I've got some good progress on some stories I want to get into my publisher soon, and I'm loving it.
Yesterday I pushed myself and managed to hit 20041 words before I crashed. Not a bad word count for 7 days worth of work. My goal is to get half way done by the end of the weekend. Next week is going to be a little harder. My boss will be back, so I'll probably have to work some more (boo!) and I have some personal things going on at the house I have to take care of before my guests arrive, but this great head start only makes those things more possible. We're really starting to get into the heart of Nano now, and my energy is starting to wane. I got my words in yesterday during work, even exceeded my goal of 2174 (The number of words it takes to be done by the day my parents arrive for Thanksgiving) but not much more. I really pounded through the words, and got what I needed, but by the end of the day I was exhausted. I barely wrote anything at home. I watched a little TV, made dinner and fell asleep.
That's one of the tricky parts of Nano. Its a marathon, not a sprint. And finding the right amount of energy, fortitude and rest. It was really important to me this year that I get a good start, which I haven't always done in the past, because of my commitments. And I've definitely achieved that good start. Now I have to start giving myself a break and letting myself relax and enjoy this process. In upbeat new, I finished the first draft of Hot-N-Ready. This is a short story that I plan to submit to Romance Divine as part of a free read anthology they are doing. Right now its pretty short, which was the point, but I'm sure when I go to edit the word count will go up a little bit. I believe in free reads, giving people a chance to take a sample before buying the whole cake, and have been successful with them in the past. I'm thrilled that Romance Divine thought of me for this opportunity. Hot-N-Ready: 3329 Owned Forever: 9526 Total: 12855 |
Willa EdwardsSpicy Erotic Romance Author and Life-Long Book Lover Get my blog posts sent to your emailArchives
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